
ULFA peace pact political gimmick: Assam Oppn
peace agreement with the pro-talks faction of ULFA has nothing new to offer, opposition parties in Assam on Friday slammed the BJP and said the pact is «merely a political gimmick» ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Asking the government to make the agreement with United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) public, opposition leaders stressed that many old points of earlier accords have been «re-written in a different language and tone».
ULFA's pro-talks faction on Friday signed a peace accord with the central and Assam governments, agreeing to renounce violence, surrender all arms, disband the organisation and join the democratic process.
«This pact does not look like an agreement between a sovereignty seeking group and the government. Many of the clauses mentioned in the agreement are just some routine duties of any elected government,» leader of the opposition Debabrata Saikia told PTI here.
The agreement does not have any mention of the Assam Accord, which is very important for safeguarding the interests of the state, he added.
«The government said Rs 1.5 lakh-crore investment will be made. This is a natural duty of a government. I hope that a new rich contractor class is not created out of this,» Saikia stressed.
CPI(M) Assam state secretary Suprakash Talukdar demanded the government to make the agreement public as the state's people have the right to know it.
«The Assam CM has been repeatedly saying that without the participation of ULFA(I) chief Paresh Barua in this process, it won't fructify. So what will be the outcome of this accord? Is the CM sticking to this position now also?» he asked.